DC Black Label 2019
Written by M.R. Carey
Pencilled by Peter Gross
Inked by Vince Locke
Coloured by Cris Peter
Lettered by Rodd Klein
The Dollhouse has taken away another piece of Alice’s soul…but this time she’s not running away. This time she’s going to uncover the secret of the House’s terrible birth…and use that knowledge to destroy it once and for all!
This is a crazy book and far and away has the absolute best page in comics, and yes I am talking about the last page. You will have to get the book to see and experience it and believe me you'll know why I have said what I have. This whole series has been one extremely weird, thought provoking and oddly horrific story that keeps the reader riveted to the page. While I still wait for Fix to make his way to comics Carey's storytelling here is completely and utterly enthralling in the way it creeps you out while leaving you with that desire to see more of this that should create nightmares.
I love the way that this is being told. The story & plot development we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented beautifully. I love watching how things keep coming to light and where this is ultimately taking Alice. The character development we see is amazing and the fact that Alice has someone in her life like Jake in whom she can talk about everything that has and is currently happening. It presents the opportunity for the kind of characterisation that can't come from words alone. The pacing is perfect and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way it works with everything else to create the books overall ebb & flow.
This may be modern in it's setting but this really does have this old school feel to it with the subject matter and the history behind the Dollhouse. Mike really manages to work with the artists and creates this old House of Mystery or the Witching Hour kind of tone to the book. These are what is missing from the world of comics and it is high time that horror titles made their way back to stands as a featured offering.
The interiors here are gorgeous. The linework we see is phenomenal and how the varying weights are being utilised to showcase the attention to detail is beautifully done. I mean the clean look of her at home to the mood setting linework and visuals that we see once we get to “the” house is beyond night and day. The way we see the backgrounds being utilised to work within the composition in the panels create the depth perception, sense of scale and that overall size and scope to the book. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show this stupendous eye for storytelling. The colour work is exquisitely rendered. The way it helps finish that mood, tone and feel as we see the various hues and tones within the colours create the shading, highlights and shadow work is truly impressive.
The way this story flows through the pages as we've followed Alice on her journey has been a thing of pure joy to experience. With everything that the Dollhouse has done for and TO her we've been able to watch her grow into a fine young woman. This is the kind of storytelling I have been waiting over a decade to come back and now that it's here I don't it want to leave again.